Mayor-elect Emanuel Names Chicago's Technology Leadership Team

Previously posted on April 22, 2011

This morning, Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel named the City's technology leadership team and announced an overhaul of the City's information offices. To make Chicago's data management more efficient and allow the City to respond effectively to taxpayers' needs, the Department of Information Technology will become part of the City's budget office.

Emanuel previously announced that John Tolva, the Director of Citizenship & Technology for IBM, will lead City Hall's innovation and technology initiatives as Chief Technology Officer. Tolva will work closely with Jason DeHaan, who will continue as the City's Chief Information Officer, and Brett Goldstein, who will become Chicago's Chief Data Officer.

"We will leverage technology to ensure that the City delivers better services at a lower cost to taxpayers," Mayor-elect Emanuel said. "Under the creative direction of these three leaders, we will decrease inefficiencies and engage people across the city in new and innovative ways."

John Tolva, Chief Technology Officer

John Tolva is currently the Director of Citizenship & Technology for IBM. He is responsible for developing new social, educational, environmental, and cultural heritage projects that use innovative technologies in partnership with nonprofit institutions and governmental entities. His team has developed programs that perform wide range of tasks, ranging from contributing idle processing power to the search for a cure to HIV to matching employees with community volunteer opportunities. He created the City Forward tool, which aggregates city data into one searchable online database for researchers and urban officials. Tolva earned his MA in Information Design and Technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MA in English Literature from Washington University. He also serves on the Mayor-elect's Government Reinvention and Budget Transition Committee.

Jason DeHaan, Chief Information Officer

Jason DeHaan will continue to serve as the Chief Information Officer of the City of Chicago. As the leader of the Department of Innovation and Technology, the City's IT organization, Jason is responsible for providing technology to over 33,000 employees and 30 diverse business units. Prior to his appointment, Jason DeHaan served as the City's First Deputy Chief Information Officer for three years. Before his work with the City, DeHaan founded a high-tech startup company, consulted to Fortune 500 firms at Accenture, and led technology projects at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he earned his Bachelors in Finance.

Brett Goldstein, Chief Data Officer

Brett Goldstein is the director of the Chicago Police Department's Predictive Analytics Group, a division that aims to predict when and where crime will happen. Goldstein, a Chicago police officer, founded the Group. Before serving Chicago as an officer, Goldstein was IT director for OpenTable. He earned his Bachelor's degree from Connecticut College, his MA in criminal justice at Suffolk University, and his MA in computer science at University of Chicago.